Spiritual Warfare
by sierra.steinbrecher
Summary: There are battles every day, that involve us even though we don't fight. Battles of protectors against savagers. They fight for us. They fight for God. They are our guardian angels.


One: Opening Shot

Edmund strapped on his Kevlar vest and watched his fellows also prepare. They all knew why they were here. This battle took place every few months, going by earth time. Different angels fought every time, because different souls came under fire. Well, except Matthias. He was always here for this, always led the battle, even if his wings were crippled by his soul's hatred. But he helped Edmund and the others understand what they were up against. Those who had armor wore it, even though it was scarce. A sad fact.

From the other side of the classroom came the demons. Some mockingly kissed the professor's cheek as he joked about slackers, others jeered at the students neatly lined up at their desks and the angels hovering over them. Edmund watched as one particular demon pointed at his soul and ran a finger over its throat. He gripped his rifle, happy for the many rounds of bullets and the spare handgun in his belt. This was more demons than had ever come for Josh's soul, but Edmund was well armed, thanks to his soul. Still, that was an awful lot of demons. Then the professor flipped the bigger whiteboard and the horde surged forward.

Quickly aligning himself, Edmund propped the end of the sniper rifle against Josh's desk and began firing into the melee below on the lecture floor. He was careful not to hit his comrades, who sometimes had only their hands to fight with. Many of those he picked off were circling Matthias. Crippled as he was and sticking close to his soul by the whiteboard, almost a fourth of the horde saw him as the easy target. But protecting Matthias was easy. Firing into the mass was harder, especially as the horde moved from the whiteboard to the railing. The first demon into the side isle was a big brute, long-fingered hands that clenched in and out of fists. Before it could get one more step, Edmund put a bullet between its eyes. "Empty mag," he called out, and Lily leaned over with her boomerang. Throwing with ferocity, she kept the horde from getting too comfortable while Josh's angel loaded more bullets into the sniper rifle and took his position again. "Thanks," he said to his female friend, both to tell her he was done and to, well, do the obvious. She nodded to indicate she heard and went back to throwing.

As Raddison walked behind the podium and picked up his stack of papers, the demons surged away from the floor and into the stands. Edmund ignored the red on the carpet behind them and kept firing at those climbing up the side isle. The demons had to climb over corpses now, slashing at angels who'd hurried to protect their souls. Angels with projectile weapons or guns whose souls were seated in the higher rows took out as many as they could, but the fight was getting harder. Angels with swords suddenly found themselves holding daggers as the teacher kept speaking. Wading through the demonic bodies, Raddison started handing out his stack of papers. The students passed them down the lines. Then a white hot pain opened up on the bag of Edmund's leg. He whipped his rifle up and right across the demon's face, knocking it back and away from Josh. Then he put a bullet in the creature's leg for good measure and vowed to watch the horde, not the professor, as he descended the stairs, still talking.

There was a shriek, Lily. _Don't look,_ he commended himself. _If you do, you will lose more than just them._ Again, the demons swarmed up the stairs, and were there more of them? Had they even made a dent? Another magazine emptied into the demonic attackers, and the stairs were fully clogged by corpses staining the carpet black. Hot breath was the only warning Edmund got before a dark face filled his vision, jeering. Then a dagger sliced right through its back and pinned it to the desk, dead. A scream rose, from the spot the dagger had come from. Edmund immediately looked around, took out the three trying to get at him and Josh from the right, and discarded his rifle. They were so close now that all he needed was the smaller handgun. For a minute, it almost looked like they'd have a chance. God's angels could fight in all conditions, without weapons. But the screams and shrieks grew harder to ignore as the souls crippled their angels with written words and the horde gleefully ravaged them.

The students passed their papers and the demons, after taking out their weakened targets, converged on Edmund. _Josh, please don't let me down. God, give me strength,_ Edmund prayed to his father as he shot a demon approaching from the left and pistol-whipped the one trying to sneak up on his from behind. He grabbed his rifle and started swinging it around in wide arcs, keeping the demons at a distance where he could pick them off. Then his magazine ran out.

"I'm a Christian," Josh said, and all the demons did a full body cringe, shrinking away from that word. Edmund almost smiled as he loaded another load of bullets into his handgun and fired at seven demons before they recovered enough to try and dodge. Josh continued to argue with the teacher, saying he couldn't write what the teacher wanted him to, and Edmund kept firing. For some reason, this magazine had more bullets than the last one. Three demons tried to lunge forward past the swinging rifle, but their ankles had been grabbed, Edmund noticed peripherally. The interest of some students had healed their wounds. Well, easier targets for him. He kept right on firing. As the teacher descended the stairs, the demons went with him, throwing Edmund and Josh loathing looks over their shoulders. They sank through the floor, finally, and as Raddison began on his lecture for the day. Edmund fired a signal flare heavenward and the medics came down to gather up the wounded. The demons would have to drag themselves back to Hell.

 **As a devout, passionate Catholic, I have always been enthralled by the idea of Spiritual Warfare. I've seen it fought in my daily life, how the Devil wars with God to get at us. For a long time, I've wanted to put this concept of spiritual warfare together with both the idea of guardian angels, and this movie. This story will only be four chapters long, with each chapter showing the battle behind each of the lectures in the original movie. Please review if you have questions, comments, even flames. Because of someone hates it, I know I'm doing something right!**


End file.
